Abrasive articles



Patented Apr. 1 1947 ABRASIVE ARTICLES Charles E. Drake,Bloomfield, N. J., assignor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation or New Jersey i i No Drawing. Application June 30, 1945,

. Serial No. 602,674

2 Claims. (Cl. 51-299),

The present invention relates to the manufacture of abrasive articles and more particularly to a flexible and resilient type of hard rubber grinding wheels.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 492,123, filed June 24, 1943 (which matured as Patent No. 2,381,266, August '7, 1945), which in turn is a continuationin-part of my application Serial No. 448,835, filed June 27, 1942.

Abrasive articles in which abrasive grains are bonded by an irreversibly or non-thermoplastic bond, for example, hard vulcanized rubber. or synthetic resin of the phenol-formaldehyde or similar type, are well known. In ththard-rubber type bond, the rubber is mixed with about one-half its weight of sulfur, the abrasive gragns mixed in, and the material vulcanized to a hard non-resilient grinding wheel or other kind of abrasive article.

According to the present invention, a hardrubber type bonded abrasive article is produced that has appreciable flexibility and resilience, yet approaches the strength of ebonite. Although a soft rubber compound may be loaded with fillers so as to have almost any degree of hardness, such highly loaded soft-vulcanized rubber compounds, if used as a bonding medium for abrasive grains, will be found very poor in mechanical strength, and if less filler is used, the vulcanized compound will be too soft for many uses, being unable to hold the abrasive grains in place firmly enough to do the work expected of them.

In carrying out the present invention, the abrasive, grains are bonded with a vulcanized composition containing hard rubber and a synthetic rubber-like material which will cure irreversibly to a state resembling soft vulcanized rubber but which will not cure to a hard state comparable to that of hard rubber. Examples of such synthetic rubberelike-materials that may be mixed with the rubber and sulphur, and vulcanized to give a resilient and flexible hard-rubber type of abrasive article or cppolymers of a major proportion of isobutylene and a minor proportion of a conjugated dioleflne copolymerizable therewith, for example, butadiene-l,3, 2-methyl butadiene- 1,3 (isoprene 2,3 dimethyl butadiene-L3, and pentadiene-l,3. These synthetic rubber-like materials are obtainable commercially in an intermediate or partially polymerized and plastic state resembling unvulcanized rubber, and may be cured in a known manner to an elastic state resembling soft vulcanized rubber, but not to a hard state comparable to hard rubber. when 2 abrasive grains are incorporated in a blend of these partially polymerized materials with a hard rubber mix and the mass cured or vulcanized a resilient and flexible hard-rubber bond for the abrasive grains is formed. Copolymers of a major proportion of isobutylene and a minor, proportion of a conjugated diolefine are known under the trade name butyl rubber, and are described in British Patent 523,248, U. S. Patent 2,356,128, and in Ind. and Eng. Chem, vol. 82,. pp. 1283- 1292. Butyl rubber may be cured or vulcanized by heating with small amounts of sulphur and the conventional vulcanizing ingredients used with natural rubber, such as zinc oxide and organic accelerators. u

The term rubber as used herein, as in reference to soft vulcanized rubber and hard rubber, means natural rubber. It is well known that there are vast differences in the physical prop erties of soft vulcanized rubber, which contains up to 10 parts of combined sulphur per parts of rubber, and hard rubber which contains 30 to 47 parts or combined sulphur per 100 parts of rubber. The terms "soft vulcanized rubber and hard rubber, are well understood in the art and the properties that distinguish one from the other are so well known that no further definition or distinction need be made than by use of these terms. As illustrative of the great difference in properties of the two material, the modulus of rigidity of soft' vulcanized rubber is of the order of 20 to 100 lbs. per sq. in., while the modulus of rigidity of hard rubber or ebonite is of the order of 100,000 to 200,000 lbs. per sq. in. The elongation at break of soft vulcanized rubber is several hundred percent, while the elongation at break of hard rubber is generally less than fifteen percent. Copolymersoi. a major proportion oi. butadiene-l,3 and a minor proportion of a monovinyl compound such as styrene or acrylic nitrile will cure on heating with twenty to forty or more parts of sulphur per one hundred parts of the copolymer to a condition or state in which their physical properties are comparable to those of hard rubber as described above. On the other hand, copolymers ofla major proportion of isobutylene and a minor proportion of a cliolefine will vulcanize only to a state or condition in which their physical properties resemble those of soft rubber, as described above. but will not cure or vulcanize to a state in which their properties are comparable to those of hard rubber.

The preferred proportions of rubber and copolymer of a major proportion of isobutylene and a minor proportion of a conjugated dioleflne in may be made.

I 3 the bond composition are within the range of 1:5 to 5:1 parts by weight. with such proportions, bonded abrasive articles with widely varying grinding qualities, flexibility and hardness Preferably, the rubber and mixed on a mill and then the partially polymerized rubber-like material, 1. e., the copolymer of a major proportion of isobutylene and a minor proportion of a conjugated diolefine, together with curing and compounding ingredients, are

blended with the previously mixed hard rubber stock. The resulting blend may then be millmixed with a given quantity of abrasive -grains, such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or any 01 the regularly known abrasives. After. mixing th .blended intermediate polymerized rubberlike material and hard rubber stock with the.

abrasive, the resulting mass may be formed into the desired shape of the article and cured. In making grinding wheels, the mixmay be sheeted out to the prescribed thickness and,,before or after cutting-or dieing to shape, heat-cured, as in a press, for example, at 50 pounds steam pressure for upwards of three hours. v

As illustrative of the invention, an example or a typical formula for thebond composition is as follows, the amounts of ingredients indicated being parts by weight: 100 parts of smoked sheet natural rubber, 50-parts of sulfur, parts of butyl rubber, and 10 parts of zinc oxide, together with such amounts of antioxidants, accelerators, etc., as are desired. For example, four parts of diphenyl guanidine may be added to the above formula as an accelerator. Another formulation for bond compositions is 100 parts of smoked sheet natural rubber, 50 parts of sulphur, 60 parts of butyl rubber, and .6 part of zinc salt of dimethyl dithlocarbamate iaccelerator). per 100 parts of butyl rubber, in the compound. Twenty parts by weight of the above bond compounds were mixed with eighty parts by weight or abrasive grains, and the masses sheeted and formed into grinding wheels which were press-cured. The cured compositions of the present invention are not limited to bonding abrasives. The natural rubber, and butyl rubber with the vulcanizing ingredients may beisheeted or molded, and cured or vulcanized with or without contact or sulphur are first attachment to some other material. such as rabrlc or metal, to give hard-rubber type vulcanizates where additional flexibility and resilience is desired.

In view of the many changes and modifica tions that may be made without departing from the principles underlying the invention, reference should be made to the appended claims for an understanding of the scope of the protection afforded the invention. I

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An abrasive article comprising abrasive" grains and a bond containing the vulcanization product of a mixture .of rubber, sulphur in amount to vulcanize said rubberto hard rubber and a copolymer of a major proportion of isobutylene and a minor proportion of a conjugat-- ed diolefine selected from the group consisting of butadiene-1,3, isoprene, '2,3-dimethyl butadiene-l,3 and pentadiene-LS copolymerizable therewith, the proportions of rubber and the co- I REFERENCES alarm The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 7 2,185,586 Brooks Jan. 2, 1940 2,332,194 Beekley et a1. Oct. 19, 194$ 2,218,167 Harkins Oct. 15, 1940 2,063,685. Lane Dec. 8, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 112,875 Australian Apr. 24, 1941 

